Domestic Drama

The audience is introduced to a family that is reeling from the death of the patriarch Tatyaji, and Sudhir (Sarfaraz Ali Mirza) now must return to his ancestral home in the village of Dharangaon.

 His arrival from Bombay, with his wife Anjali (Bhagyashree Tarke) sets up the drama for the rest of the play. The wada (traditional residence) is recreated with a beautiful set, which sprawls across the entire stage and is brought to life with the Deshpande family duking it out on the stage.

 Virasat doesn't waste time with trivialities and gets straight to setting up the escalating drama. The real hero of the play is Vasant Deo's masterful translation of Mahesh Elkunchwar's original script. The script employs slang and faithfully recreates a believable rural dialect. 

The beautiful writing brings out the pain and helplessness of all those trapped in the wada. Family drama is presented to the audience with a series of escalating scenarios- ranging from a drunken son, to discussing funeral payments- the most compelling of which is the pursuit of a BA by an unmarried Prabha (Pooja Vedvikhyat). 

The rural setting tackles and touches on many themes, including urbanization, greed and even aspiration. Blocking and movement is seamless across the massive haveli and masterful performances by Avijit Solanki and Ajay Khatri escalate the play to unprecedented levels. 

There are moments of comic relief and the family does appear to be, for most of the part, worthy of redemption with a few heartfelt moments. But Virasat is at heart a powerful drama that doesn't shy away from asking the right questions. Its characters are a set of bodies pushed and shoved by circumstances.

 The product makes for a compelling and engaging drama. Virasat is a play produced by first year students of the National School of Drama. 

The performances had been scheduled from June 2-5 daily at 6.30 pm, with two additional shows on June 4 and June 5 at 3.00 pm, held at Abhimanch Auditorium, National School of Drama.